a little balance and a little cupcake.

Tonight Mr. Charming had to work late.  He started a new job recently and he has been working his booty off.  I'm so proud of him and I try to do what I can as his wife to make his nights relaxing and easy when he's put in over 12 hours at the office.  Today was spent working on recapping Australia Fashion Week for the magazine, meditating, spending quality cuddle time with my dog, and spring cleaning the house.  It was an amazing balance of work and play, and I feel so blessed and re-energized by this day. I also had some time to catch up on a couple TV shows, read some books and I watched the Thai Life Insurance commercial that went viral, and yes, it proceeded to make me tear up. 

Tonight I made a new favorite dinner.  We do chicken and sweet potatoes every once in a while, but its normally a rotisserie chicken and a nuked potato.  Tonight, I wanted to make it special. I shredded chicken and cooked it with olive oil and fresh garlic and served it along side glorious stuffed sweet potatoes.  I baked them in the oven and stuffed them full of all kinds of vegetable goodness.  Click here for the full recipe.  And though it was a two hour process... It. Was. Heavenly. 

Mr. Charming and I are usually on the same page, he is my best friend and one of the reasons why our marriage works so well is because of what we have in common and how similarly we think.  But its really special on days like today.  He walked in with a long stem rose as I was plating dinner, and I just adore him for these moments.  On our wedding day, almost three years ago, in his vows he said he would bring me single long stem roses on random Tuesday nights... and tonight was a random Tuesday night.  The beauty in this detail just makes me fall in love all over again.  It truly is the little things.  Always hold on to the little things.  

After our amazing dinner I surprised us with dessert.  I had previously made chocolate cupcakes, the ones listed on my dessert page, but I wanted to rework the recipe and try one that didn't taste so oily.  (I will be swapping out the old recipe for the new one that is listed below). The original used a lot of coconut oil and I wanted a fluffier chocolate cupcake.  These turned out so fantastic.  Since I don't use frosting in most of my desserts I paired them with a new Barney Butter almond butter product I splurged on at Sprout's Farmers Market.  Its a new almond butter mixed with cocoa and coconut.  It was yummy and reminded me of a fluffy cupcake version of a Reese's with a hint of coconut.  They were delectable. 

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What You Will Need:
1 Cup Almond Flour
1 Tablespoon of Sugar of your choice (I used organic maple sugar)
1/2 tsp. aluminum free baking soda
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 Cup of Enjoy Life chocolate chips or dairy-free dark chocolate
1/2 cup of coconut milk
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/2 tsp. organic vanilla
2 organic eggs
1 Tbsp. cinnamon 
Frosting of choice or Barney Butter Cocoa + Coconut almond butter

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line your cupcake pan with liners. 

Combine dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl.  This will be your almond flour, cinnamon, baking soda, sea salt, and sugar.  Heat chocolate and coconut milk in a small sauce pan over medium-low until completely melted.  Mix in a metal bowl with eggs, vanilla, and melted coconut oil stirring together until well mixed.  Add to dry ingredients and stir until batter is formed.  Pour into lined muffin cups, about 2/3 full, and bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry. 

Cool completely, frost and enjoy!